Pour the water into a 3-quart bowl or large, lidded plastic food container. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the oil, salt, yeast, and sugar. Don’t worry about dissolving all of the ingredients; just stir well to combine. Don’t bother “proofing” the yeast, either—it shouldn’t fail if used before its expiration date.

Add the flour and mix until uniformly moist. The dough will be quite wet; no kneading is necessary. (Personally, I used 3 3/4 cups AP flour, 1/4 cup wheat flour, and 1/4 cup cornmeal in my dough- and I really liked the resulting texture.)

Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap or partially cover the plastic container (leave the lid open a crack to let gases escape). Let the dough rise for 2 hours at room temperature. The dough will fully expand and may even begin to collapse within this time.

Do not punch down this dough—it will collapse on its own and later shrink while it chills in the refrigerator; it will never regain its height, and that’s OK.

Refrigerate the dough, loosely covered, for at least 3 hours before using.

Make Ahead Tips

The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. After 2 days, tightly cover the dough in its bowl with plastic wrap to keep the surface of the dough from drying out. You can also freeze the dough in well-wrapped 1/2-lb. balls for up to 3 weeks. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

This is the best fake-cheese ever. It tastes nutty like real parmesan, and only takes about 3 minutes to make. But you need a food processor or blender, and probably a trip to Whole Foods for the nutritional yeast.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup raw cashews

3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to a food processor and mix/pulse until a fine meal is achieved. Store in the refrigerator to keep fresh. Lasts for several weeks.